My Wildlife - My Community

According to PCI Media Impact, poaching is a cultural problem that requires a cultural solution. Shifts in community-held attitudes are necessary and result only from socially driven discussion. Focusing in the Kilimanjaro, Tanga, Arusha, and Manyara regions of Tanzania, the project is working to mobilise local communities. As a first step, a local coalition is created to build local capacity to address bush meat and wildlife conservation issues.

In order to promote knowledge, attitude, and behaviour change, a 20-episode, locally produced, entertainment-education serial radio drama is being produced. The drama centres on a small Tanzanian village situated right next to a national park. The storyline follows the lives of Meku, Rehema, and Fina. Meku is a 17-year-old boy who has been taking care of his sister since their parents died of AIDS. In order to provide for her, he gets involved in the poaching business, which ends up getting them both in great danger. Uneducated but thoughtful and wise, Rehema is very conscious of the value of wildlife. When her husband starts poaching to provide for the family, she tries to discourage him but fails and she is arrested, before her husband turns himself in and is jailed. Fina is a young woman, known for her good cooking. She pressures her husband to start poaching in order to get extra money so she can open a café. She becomes proud and bossy and her obsession with money will lead her friends to turn their back on her and her husband to get seriously injured during a hunt.

To complement the radio drama and promote interactive engagement with local populations, the project activities include interactive radio magazine/call-in shows that support each episode of the drama. These shows are broadcast locally in local languages, and 'turn up the volume' on the issues, generating inter-personal communication amongst audiences, allowing them to first consider and then validate the desired behaviour changes.

Popular, Tanzanian musician, Mrisho Mpoto has produced a song entitled "A Debt of Courtesy" to encourage his fellow Tanzanians to protect elephants from illegal poaching practices. Mpoto is a trusted figure and big celebrity in the country and the song's catchy lyrics are designed to encourage reflection in a non-threatening way. His music generates dialogue around the needed behaviour changes while reminding listeners of their deep love for elephants. Music has the power to foster national pride and Mpoto's lyrics remind listeners of how important elephants are to their country's identity. The music video for "A Debt of Courtesy" will be used to bring this issue into classrooms, churches, and communities.

Wildlife Conservation, Environment

Wildlife is a keystone component of the ecology, economics, and culture of East Africa. However, trends have been showing continuous declines in its density, diversity, and distribution throughout the region and its subsistence is more and more threatened by factors such as increasing population, development pressures, the demand for bush meat, the sophistication of hunting techniques and poverty. Today, many species are at risk and their continued decline or disappearance would have dramatic impacts, not only for the people of East Africa, but also for the global community, which is why a targeted, dedicated and widespread effort is needed.